This is where I share my passion for music and support the bands I like ...expect intense, passionate, and radical stuff from this blog.

samedi 31 mars 2012

Massachusetts is a coffin vol.2

Massachusetts is a coffin vol.2, released this march, is a really cool hardcore compilation, featuring bands from Massachusetts (Boston and around), it is done by Where its end zine. thanks to them for doing this cool zine and this killer comp. it's things like that (with the bands themselves of course!) that keep the underground alive and exiting!

On this comp different shades of hardcore are represented, fromt the more metallic, pissed off and dark (Abomination, Revenge) to the more melodic emo/screamo (Defeater, My fictions), to beatdown (Powerwolves), to anthemic street hardcore (DYS), to NYHC style, to old school, etc..

But with every different band you have your dose of high quality hardcore, so grab it and you won't regret!!

jeudi 29 mars 2012

Acephalix-Deathless master

last year, Acephalix (from the bay area) released Interminable night, a cool exercise in trashing and old school death metal with a cool groove, a bit in a Entombed vein. Be ready for their forthcoming record Deathless master, planned to be released by Southern lord records in april 10th. Judging by the track called "on wings" wich you can listen to Here on Cvltnation it's gonna be a good following to Interminable night!

lundi 26 mars 2012

Split cranium-st

Split cranium (which is Aaron Turner who played in Isis and three guys from Finland) released, this march 2012, a very special record. It start with three short and fast, good and well executed, straight to the face metallic hardcore songs. But then it goes into really different directions, and nearly every songs adds a different element to the sound of the band, a touch of melodic hard rock, a touch of industrial, noise, etc...making it a really original, challenging and exiting record.

samedi 24 mars 2012

King Giant-Dismal hollow

King giant released Dismal hollow in january 2012, adding another really high quality record to their discography (southern darkness, 2009, was already really class). Dismal hollow is powerfull and soulfull hard rock/old school heavy metal doom. Great songwriting, great riffs, great singing melodies, great atmospheres epic, dark and melancholic, all that with a southern flavour and groove. Dismal hollow sure will be one of the best classic heavy metal/doom record for 2012.

Listen to it on their BC page it is mandatory and no excuses will be accepted!

DK - Well, we've had a couple of line-up
changes so the "how did you form" question isn't really relevant to
King Giant as it is today. However, I can say that we all came out of musical
retirement to play in this band. All of us played in previous bands, knew one
another, or were friend's of friends' in the DC music scene. The idea was
simply to get together, jam, write songs, play shows, and have fun.

-what I like in
Dismal hollow is the fact that in not just good “doom”, “stoner”, “southern
metal”, we can hear in your sound such elements I think, but there is no doom
parts, stoner parts, etc..it’s really cohesive and the songwriting is really
strong and for me Dismal hollow just sound like a heavy metal classic. What do
you think of that?

DK - Thank you
very much! We put a lot of time and effort into writing “songs” not just parts,
so I’m happy to hear that it resonates with other people. When we write, we
just play what feels right and what sounds good. We don’t try to steer riffs in
any one direction. Believe me, it doesn’t work! Speaking for myself, I’m
heavily influenced by bands that wrote songs that have hooks that have
discernable parts like intros, choruses, etc… Riffs are paramount, but a song
does not a riff make!

-have you
started to write the songs for the next album? If so how are the new songs?

DK - We have.
Unfortunately, we are unable to play shows to support “Dismal Hollow” right now
due to an injury I sustained last year to my leg. I’ve chosen not to play shows
because I can damage it again if I don’t rest and allow it to heal properly. I
have to stay out of situations where I know I will over-do it. I told the other
guys that they should go tour with a temp guitarist, but they didn’t want to.
So, because of all that, we have started working on some new ideas. It’s safe
to say that we will continue in the same direction as “Dismal Hollow”, but
hopefully extend past it!

-Dismal hollow
is so good that it will be hard to top, have you got an idea about how you’ll
achieve that?

DK - Hopefully by just doing what
we’ve done in the past. In other words, writing songs for ourselves, first and
foremost, and by being our own worst critic, we won’t take any short cuts in
the songwriting process.

-in the video
about the making of Dismal hollow you say that the songs are short dark Americana stories, can
you tell us more about that?

DK - For me,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were (are) a really big influence. His songs that
had narratives really stuck with me. Ironically, it took an Australian to turn
me onto to checking out American folk, early blues, and bluegrass music. It’s
amazing how dark some of the early bluegrass music is with song topics about
sin, addiction, and the devil... it’s just like metal!

-I understand
why did you make a video for Appomattox because the song is brilliant, and the
video is cool, but what I don’t get is that the video seems to have nothing to
do with the lyrics, what is the link between the civil war and zombies?

DK - Nothing.
But it was a lot of fun! It really was a logistical issue. We simply didn’t
have the money that would be needed to make a Civil War video without taking
too many shortcuts, or without it ending up cheesy. Kevin Barker of Mono/Poly
Creative, our video director, jokingly said, “screw it, let’s make a zombie
video” and a few days later came back to me realizing that it just might work.
That’s how it started. Originally, the TV / Newscast in the video was going to
play a more prominent role, making references to how the zombie invasion was
similar to the civil war because of families and loved ones having to turn on
each other, and stating lines like, “not since the civil war has this amount of
blood been split on american soil...” etc, you get the idea. But it ultimately
got cut from the final edit.

-I’ve seen that
you ask people to donate money to help you making this video, was it
successful?

DK - Yes. We
wouldn’t have been able to make this video without the generous help of our
kickstarter patrons. We were blown away at how responsive and generous everyone
was to our fundraiser. Also, I want to add that many people contributed their
time and talent to making this video a reality. I can’t stress enough that we
could not have done it without everyone who pitched in!

-which cool
band from your area would you recommend?

DK - Salome,
Auroboros (ex-salome, ex-baroness – check them out!), Earthride.... there’s
more but that’s all I can think of right now.

-do you plan
touring Europe (if you do so you have to go to Montpellier, France!)?

DK - We would
love to, but no formal plans as of yet. We need to most likely get another
album out there in order to do that. I personally would love to play Montpellier, anywhere
by the Mediterranean is fine by me!

-what can we
expect from the band in the coming months?

DK - We’re saving our money to
hopefully shoot another video in the next few months. No definitive ideas yet,
we’re leaning towards a couple of songs, but we haven’t chosen one yet. It’s
not going to be as involved as the “Appomattox” video (we don’t have the money
for that) but it should still be a fun video to watch.

-one last thing
to add?

DK - Saw the
line up for Hellfest, looks great! I wish I were going....Also, just wanted to
point out to your readers that while our 2nd album “Dismal Hollow”
is available through many channels via distributors, our first album, “Southern
Darkness” is not, it’s currently only available through our website. Vinyl
lovers, both albums are gatefold, 180gram, colored vinyl! Both albums can be
streamed in their entirety via kinggiant.bandcamp.com
Also, Thanks Dennis for your time and interest in King Giant! Cheers!!

vendredi 23 mars 2012

Gripe / Diseksa-Indefinite detention

Gripe (from Athens, Georgia), which has released Pig servant, one of the best grind record of 2011, just put on the internet their coming split tape with Diseksa (from Singapore)called Indefinite detention. Six songs for Gripe, five for Diseksa. the Gripe songs are really cool grind songs, tight and aggressive, with good blasting beats, good dynamics, and angry vocals as it should be. Maybe it don't top Pig servant but it's still really good grindcore. Diseksa, is also cool, in a more powerviolence/crust vein, but sounding maybe less powerfull than the Gripe songs.

and read this recent interview of Gripe, also on Blasting days here. the guys told me that another split, this time with Chulo (from Columbia), is coming and that's really cool![addition : the (1min only!) split with Chulo has been released and is indeed cool, here is the BC page).

Deception Schematics by Cellgraft was for me one of the best 2011 discovories in Grindcore. Pure absolute devastating grindcore, musical intensity in its purest form. I just love that. the sound is really harsh and heavy, the guitar is really low and awesome, the songs are short and fast, the vocals are cool, and above all the rythms are really good (and that's the key for making good grindcore!).

for infos about downloading or buying their records, shows, link to their bandcamp, etc..check their blog.

Their guitarist Ryan Zell kindly agreed to answer to some questions for Blasting days. Read it just below :

-can you present the band and its evolution from its formation up to now ?

Cellgraft
started around 2009 out of the remnants of a prior death metal
influenced band called Piles Sufferers. Starting out, I didn't know how
to play guitar and Chris was just picking up how to play the genre on
drums. Matt had been in a few punk and metal bands before but nothing
major or too serious. The original goal was to make the guitars sound
gross as fuck and push Chris to write crazier shit, which we haven't
really strayed from I think. After playing a bunch of local shows over
the past few years and, for me at least, actually learning how to play
my instrument, we actually started to streamline our sound. Hopefully we
can rise above being compared to the bands we're influenced by and
actually create our own style. However, the Assuck and Insect Warfare
comparisons are very flattering, haha.

-when
we listen to Cellgraft we have an impression that the usual grind bands
are a bit mellow and soft compared to Cellgraft, do you play such an
intense and crushing music with Cellgraft because you think grind tends
to be too mellow?

A lot of
what we try to do is take the heaviest, grossest, most confusingly fast
and pissed off sounding bands that we have heard and are influenced by
and either put a spin on those elements or make them way more
ridiculous. Honestly though if it's got blast beats and screaming and
pissed off riffs I'll most likely love it. At live shows we usually try
to play out of both bass and guitar full-stacks. Maybe because I
personally feel like I have to fill in a sound gap because we're only a
three piece or because it's something bands don't normally do all the
time. Either way it sounds fucking awesome.

-what drives you to play such an intense music?

Not
too sure. We always wonder if all this pent up aggression would have
manifested itself in a different way if we didn't play grind. Even if
hundreds of other bands might do it faster or louder or more technical,
we will always play fast music. And always try to push the envelope as
far as we can. It can obly get faster from here.

-the
sound of Cellgraft gives me the impression of being partly influence by
harsh noise, Japanese noise, things like that (and maybe by the sound
of Pig destroyer on the other hand), do you agree? What are the elements
that makes Cellgraft music ?

I
used to be really into Hanatarashi and harsh noise in general. That and
raw d-beat bands like Disclose. Over the top gain and feedback is
always cool, haha. Matt and Chris are really into lo-fi black metal as
well, so maybe the mixed influences of d-beat, noise, grind and black
metal is what made us sound the way we do. We just really throw around
ideas and new ways to run amps and see what happens.

-I know that you played with many really good grind bands, what was your best experiences?

Locally
we've been getting on a lot of really great shows and tours coming
through (Phobia, Brutal Truth, Wormrot, Despise You, blahblahblah).
Playing shows with bands that have been some of our biggest influences
is amazing. The fact that we even get considered to do so is the best
experience we could ever ask for. We have a lot of really great shows
and tours coming up in the next year though which will definitely be
sick. One of which being our proposed European tour. If that works out
we'll be set.

-from
your first recordings to Deceptions schematic and the split with
Drainland your music got better and more personal, how do you describe
the evolution? Where are you heading to for the next record?

Most
of it is just plain learning how to play our instruments and becoming
big equipment nerds. Me and the other dudes have been playing together
for like four years so we can almost read each others minds at this
point. Also, taking styles and sounds that are from different genres and
shredding them up and putting our own spin on them always helps. We
just finished a full length that's getting released through RSR. It
sounds a lot different but I'll let everyone else be the judge on how.

-what
do you have to say about the writing and recording of Deception
schematics and the split wit Drainland? What did you try to achieve with
these records?

On Deception
Schematic I really wanted it to sound bass heavy and very sinister. It
sounds like it was recorded in a cave with old huge amps. I always say
it sounds like Electric Wizard playing grindcore, haha. The songs on the
split with Drainland sound way different. Very straight forward, blown
out thrashy guitar sound and loud as fuck snare. A lot of the way our
recordings turn out is because it's always in a garage, or den, or
living room or bedroom of whoever we can find that does recordings. I
always liked the idea of changing up the sound from recording to
recording while still keeping it grind and making necessary improvements
as we go along. Hopefully our next record can live up to that gradual
evolution. And if not, hopefully everyone likes the songs for what they
are.

-I think one
thing really important for grind is the rythms and the dynamic in the
songs, and it’s one aspect I really likes in your songs, it adds a lot
to the impact and the “catchiness and grooviness” of the songs. Is it
something you focus a lot on when you write songs?

It's
something that kind of happens on it's own I guess. I love catchy death
metal groove parts and putting them in short intervals in between a
grinding hell storm of noise always makes both sound way more effective
to me. When we write though we usually aim for over the top and get that
plus a few catchy moments here and there. If it was up to Matt and
Chris i'm pretty sure all the songs would be straight blast beats
through and through.

-what about the lyrics of the songs? What are the major themes?

A
lot of what Matt writes about aren't the normal topics of most
grindcore bands. He usually writes about what ever topics are prevalent
or interesting in his life, whether that be philosophy themes, alchemy,
conspiracy, or corruption. He never picks whole centralized themes for
albums or a group of songs.

-in your blog we can read “shatter ignorance with harsh noise”. Sounds cool! How does it works?

That
was kind of my own take on 'Death To False Grind' that got started by
Insect Warfare. There are a lot of metalcore shit bands that think they
play grindcore out there. Having these kids take one of my favorite
things in the world and morph it into some hipster garbage bullshit
really pisses me off. This phrase is also directed to all ignorance no
matter what it may be. People are fucked up and most of the time know it
and I'd love to erase their ignorant hateful ways of life away with a
mountain of amps and a wall of pissed off noise.

-what do you think of the situation in the US now,? what about the “Occupy” movement?

Everyone
is controlled by their daily lives and vices. While I'd love for there
to be a massive change in the way the US, or the whole World, operates, I
think we missed that chance a long time ago. The Occupy movement is an
interesting one with so many aspects, especially with it being a global
movement. Right now i'm just sitting and waiting and taking it all in.

-how is the grind/punk/metal scene in Florida, which bands from your area would you recommend?

It's
actually coming back in a big way. A lot bands are coming through on
tour now, bands are starting, side projects are starting from those
bands. Some of the coolest ones right now are God Harvest, Flyingsnakes,
Devout, Feral Babies, 440, Bastard Deceiver, Rotting Palms, Knife Hits,
No Qualms, Ives, Vomikaust, Radiation and bunch more I can't remember
at the moment. So many bands and so many good people. Florida rules
right now.

-what can we expect from Cellgraft in 2012?

A
new record is on the way, as well as External Habitation being pressed
on vinyl thanks to RSR. Also a repress of Deception Schematic on No
Reprieve Records. We're in the middle of planning an east coast split
tour with Bastard Deceiver who is also from Tampa this August. Next year
we're trying to do both a West coast tour and European tour but will
probably settle for just one of those.

-something to add?

thank you to everyone who has helped us out, bought records,
downloaded our music and spread the word about us in any way. Without
you we would just be nerds playing out of two many amps, haha.

jeudi 22 mars 2012

The washingtonians

Severed heads, released in oct 2010 is the first LP from the french hardcore grinders The washingtonians. If you like straight to your face hardcore grind, then you'll like this record, simple as that!!

mercredi 21 mars 2012

Dopefight

Buds, released by Dopefight in 2010, in two words : Heaviness and Groove. That's what Dopefight (from Brighton UK) is all about.

The songs on this first LP are quite original for a stoner/sludge band, some parts are bit more uptempo than usual, the riffs are catchy, the few more or less punkish vocals here and there don't do bad.

well, just make your own opinion by listening to it from their BC page.

(note : I reviewed their other, now defunct band The St Franc Cartel Here, different stuff but also really cool in my opinion).

And here is a written interview with Dopefight :

-can you present Dopefight and its music?

Dopefight are a Sludge band from Brighton, UK who formed in early 2009.

-you released Buds in 2010, can you tell us a few words about this record?

BUDS is our third release and our debut album. It's available on CD, Vinyl and Download.

-when will you release a new record, and how will it sound like, is there an evolution in your music since Buds?

Our fourth release comes out on monday 23/04/12, it's a split 7" with the awesome GURT!

There will be two new songs each and it's still fucking heavy!

-have you toured a lot after Buds, how was it? Which was your best gig?

There
have been too many great gigs to pick a favourite but the dates we did
with Hang The Bastard and Dead Existence were extremely fun!

-with which band would you like to tour with?

Bongzilla!

-what is the link between goat and leaf?

A natural one.

-It
seems to me that the drumming in Dopefight is a bit different to the
drumming of other stoner/sludge bands do you agree? How would you
describe it?

The drumming never stays the same, it's more erratic and strays all over the place rather than keeping the same beat for ages.

-I know that some of you play or have played in other bands, can you tell us a few words about these bands?

mardi 20 mars 2012

Timber timbre

Creep on creeping on (2011), the fourth record by Timber timbre from Canada. Ce disque est hanté. This recordis like a ghost wandering beween canadian woods and une Nouvelle-Orléans révée. It sounds like a dark indie-folk meeting fifties rock at the crossroad.The first song, setting the tone of the whole record is called bad ritual and sound like a funeral procession, with the saxophone doing creepy sounds, the piano playing its cold melody and the singing being warm dark, and melancholic. And the few creepy instrumental noisy/dark interludes between the songs adds to this eerie feeling.

lundi 19 mars 2012

Dephosphorus

Axiom, the first release by the greek band Dephosphorus was among the best discoveries from the underground in 2011.The music they play is an interesting combination of elements coming from different syles, mostly extreme music but not only, and the result is a unique balance beetween blackened grind/punk agression and eerie melodies and atmospherses. But Dephosphorus music escapes any labelling so if you want to figure out how it sounds just listen to it! highly recommended listening!

for exemple on their website or bandcamp page (you'll also find there two songs from their coming LP!).

I asked Panos Agoros, singer of Dephosphorus, some questions to learn more about the band, about Axiom, their future releases, etc., as you'll see, not only the music is unique, but also the lyrics, artworks, etc, the whole concept of the band is unique for an extreme band like Dephosphorus. Panos kindly and thoughtfully explained to me (and you!) what the band is all about (among other interesting things). read it below!

-can you present the band for those not
knowing you yet?

Panos: We are Dephosphorus,
hailing from Athens-Greece. We’ve been formed in summer 2008 by me
(vocals/lyrics) and Thanos (guitars/bass/songwriting) after the dissolution of
our previous band, Straighthate. After spending a year demoing material and
forging our style, we’ve been joined by longtime comrade and Injekting Khaos
member Nikos on drums. We’ve released our debut mini-album “Axiom” as a
gorgeous gatefold vinyl last summer via german vinyl-only grind label 7 Degrees
Records. “Axiom” is also available as a free download from our website.

-I think you manage to keep a balance
between dark strange melodies/atmospheres and rawness and agressivity, is it
something you try to achieve intentionally?

Panos: Of corpse! This is what
Dephosphorus is all about. Delivering blackened, aggressive, spiritual and
eerie music. Our ambition is to transport you to a realm beyond our earthly
realities, yet not completely disconnected from them.

-if I describe your music as an original
mix of different extreme music styles with mainly elements of grind/crustpunk
and black metal would you agree?

Panos: Sure. Yet there’s more to
it. Thanos’ songwriting is also influenced by noise rock, post-hardcore, thrash/death
metal, folk music, noise/experimental, just to name a few music genres.

-how are Dephosphorus song’s written?

Panos:Until now the way we
proceeded was the following. Thanos had submitted a pool of demos to the rest
of us, and each time we wanted to write a new song, Nikos chose whatever track
he fancied more. Then they would start working on it at the rehearsal room, and
while this was happening I would be browsing my notepads trying to figure which
lyrics would fit. When the music of the song would be more or less ready, I
would join trying out different vocal lines, and usually at the end of a couple
of hours of rehearsal we would have a first version ready that we would commit
onto tape using our own equipment.

-it seems to me that the lyrics focus on
about metaphysical subjects, can you tell us more about that ? I guess the
artwork of Axiom is link to the lyrics isn’t it? And what does the name of the
band means?

Panos:The name of the band
designates a cosmic entity which is the central point of our concept. The
initial idea about the name came from the working title of a Leviathan song,
“Phosphoros”. We liked it very much because of how it sounded, and because of its meaning
(“bringer of a light”). It is also the name of a chemical compound, and since
our concept has scientific afinities, it made sense to chose it. When we
realized it was already taken we did a bit of research and came across
“Diphosphorus” which is an allotrope of “Phosphoros”, aka a diatomic version in
which it also exists. Voilà!

Our lyrics and concept are allegoric and
metaphorical. They deal with the search for the meaning of life and of
creation. Dephosphorus is scanning the cosmos for allies in order to pierce its
mysteries. When some civilizations enter in contact with Dephosphorus, chaos
and turmoil are ensuing. As a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip put it perfectly:
“-If people sat outside and looked at the stars each, I’ll bet they’d live a
lot differently. –How so? –Well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there
are more important things than what people do all day.”

The artwork has been crafted by our
friends Viral Graphics (www.facebook.com/viral.graphics)
who are 100% into our concept and have similar perception and worldviews than
we do. Our music, lyrics/concept and artwork are intertwined and are not to be
considered separately.

-your previous grind band Straighthate
was more like “classical” grind with lyrics about social concerns. How do you
explain your move from Straighthate to Dephosphorus?

Panos:Straighthate was indeed less
radical musically and conceptually, but I wouldn’t say it was classic grind
either. It had some of the diverse influences that we also have in Dephosphorus
albeit in more embryonic form: noise rock, post-hardcore, black/death…

When we decided to move on after
Straighthate, we wanted to start a band more challenging and exciting, both
musically and artistically. We figured out straight from the beginning that it
would be a band based on a concept. Personally, at this point I needed an
outlet where I could unleash my imagination and combine two parts of myself.
The adult who’s thinking about the possibilities of life and about human
existence, and the science fiction boy who grew up in the 80’s with Isaac
Asimov and Battlestar Galactica…

-can you tell us more about the future
split with Wake?

Panos:Our label, 7 Degrees
Records, put us in touch with labelmates Wake
from Canada
(http://wakegrind.com/). They are an excellent grinding hardcore band, with devastating music
and inspiring, caustic lyrics. They had 3 tracks to offer for a split-EP, so
did we. It was a nobrainer that it would be a killer move to join forces for a
split release, so with the support and encouragement of 7DR we made it happen.
As we speak the wax is getting pressed at the factory. It will come with a
poster insert sporting – once again – awe inspring artwork by Viral Graphics.
Viral had to accomplish the challenging task of combining our stellar concept
with Wake’s sociopolitical lyrics into a single coherent vision, and that’s
what they did in a tour de force of epic, monumental artwork. Our tracks will
also be available in a digital form. Brace yourselves!

-I also read on Grind and punishment
that an LP called Night sky transform is coming, can you tell us more about it?
Is it gonna be a move towards more grinding dark psychedelia?

Panos:You put it into words
perfectly, indeed this is exactly what you’ll get! All three of us feel that
all those years spent in the music scene came down to this. We consider “Night
Sky Transform” to be our masterpiece. We hope that the underground audience
will embrace it as they did with “Axiom”, as its valiant successor. Even if they
don’t, it is a work extremely important to us. A collective pilgrimage and a wonderful
journey…

I don’t want to spill the beans too
much. It is a different approach to our sound, yet there is still a sense of
continuity. If you take a listen to the two tracks off “Night Sky Transform”,
“Uncharted” and “Cold Omen”, streaming at our bandcamp page (http://dephosphorus.bandcamp.com) you’ll
get a good idea where the album will be starting from. The rest of the trip
will be for you to discover in a few months from now. It is going to be
released as a special vinyl edition by 7 Degrees Records, and will also be
available as a digital download. We’re also considering the cassette format - we’ve
yet to receive a relevant offer for a CD release…

Touring is unfortunately out of the
question right now since Thanos is studying in Göteborg-Sweden, and our drummer
Nikos is recovering from an arm injury. Dephosphorus gigs will definitely
happen at some point. We just don’t know when - yet.

-what do you think of the situation in Greece? Has it
an influence on your music? If so in which way?

Panos:We think that the
situation in Greece
is just a preamble to the storm that is coming, the global crisis of western
capitalism. The Greek society is responsible for what is happening, and so are
our foreign “friends” who encouraged and took advantage of corruption for the
last 30 years. Fuck you Europe!

Most of our music and lyrics have been
written before the crisis came down really hard on our country and people.
There’s not any direct link, except the general sense of regret that our short
lives on earth are consumed by trivial, mundane, materialistic worries and
struggles, separating us from our true nature and from the greater,
encompassing cosmic realities.

-how is the extreme metal/punk/grind
scene in Greece
at the moment?

Panos:It’s better than what it
was 10 years ago. There’s a handful of exceptional acts (Dead Congregation,
Ravencult, Injekting Khaos, Ruined Families, to name a few), some good ones and
a whole lot of mediocrity. Just like everywhere else.

-can you tell us a few words about
Blastbeat mailmurder/productions?

Panos:I’ve startedBlastbeat Mailmurder/ Productions 10+
years ago, in order to distribute in Greece metal and hardcore music
that wasn’t available in the stores at that time. I did a fair amount of field
work introducing the local audience to bands like Antaeus, Kickback, Arkhon
Infaustus, cult labels like Spikekult, Blackfish Records and Noevdia…

I’ve also released a handful of quality
releases including both CD’s of Straighthate, 7”EP’s by swiss grind heroes
Mumakil and local death metal legends Nuclear Winter (the band from the ashes
of whom rose Dead Congregation)… I’ve just got out my latest release in over 4
years, the “Rotting Season” 7”EP by N.Y.C. death metal band Mutant Supremacy –
I know you digged this one!

What I’m working right now is the
Monomaniac series. That will be a stream of compilation 7”EP’s where each band
will contribute with 1 minute of music! A lot of

For more info, online music and a
mailorder choke full of quality death/grind/black/hardcore items please check
out my website: www.blastbeatmailmurder.com.

-something to add?

Panos:I would liketo invite your readers to check out
our website www.dephosphorus.com for
more info. Subscribe to our mailing list and/or find us in facebook in order to
be updated about the latest developments.

The great southern darkness is the latest (sept 2011) release by french black metallers Glorior belli. It is indeed great, dark and with a southern flavour, because they mix with great taste and talent black metal blastbeats, vocals and atmospheres, with southern grooves and riffage.

At time it sounds like a kind of blackened version of Pantera, and I guess it is not by chance that the name of their record reminds of The great southern trendkill, the darkest record by Pantera. They even have the creepy blues based ballads.The result, both original and powerfull, full of both warmth and anger, makes one the best metal record of 2011.

If you like southern sounding rock/metal and black metal you absolutely have to listen to Glorior belli (check also their previous record, Meet us at the southern cross).

on THIS page from their official website you'll be able to listen to songs, watch videos, etc...

Ghee from London released this demo, their first release, earlier this month.Three good songs. It sounds likes really pissed off hardcore with fast parts and more sludgier parts. If you like bands like Black flag, Converge or Grief or just like your hardcore to be aggressive and dirty then you'll dig these three songs. Keep an eye on them because this demo is really promising. Support them, and if you're organising shows, book them!

Here's their bandcamp page where you can listen/download their cool demo.

I asked them a few questions to learn more about them. Read it below :

-can you present the
band? where are you from, when did you form, why did you choose that
name, do you play or have played in other bands, etc.

Sam : Well,
I play Guitar, James is on bass, Pete shouts his guts out and Jakey G
hits things. We've all been friends for years and me, Pete and Jake live
together, went to school together and have played in various bands
together (XX Cortex, Screen Violence, The Bad Hats, Dead Broads, Daze
Like These) from the age of about 14. We formed late 2011 after James
left Hail of Abuse and the rest of us were up for doing something a bit
different (i.e heavier) and the rest is a very brief history.

We
pained over finding some sort of interesting, relevant name for a while
(we have been Poor Me, Gape, Mrs Winslows Soothing Syrup, you get the
idea...). We've all got a strange fixation on sound-bites, quotes, puns,
absurd references to things, which probably looks a bit odd in polite
company, so that was always going to be part of the band. We ended up as
Ghee, which is a sort of stupid in-joke but I think it's a also a
pretty good descriptive name. We're essentially four fully grown
man-children, throwing ourselves about to ridiculous music, and we love
it.

-how would you describe your music, I woudl say it's a kind of powerviolence/grind with some sludgy parts, agree?

We'd say that's probably a fair description, but I think 'powerviolence'
gets thrown around a lot and we're not entirely sure if it fits us. I
find it pretty hard to pin it down is you're playing in the band, we
just kind of see it as hardcore I guess, but what does that even really
mean? I guess genre tags have their use, and yours is pretty fitting.,
so lets go with that.

-what about the lyrics and the artwork of the demo?

I'll
leave Pete to answer this one - I've never found writing lyrics
particularly easy, in fact generally speaking I find it quite a daunting
task, partly due to the fact that I wonder what the other guys will
think of it and also having people read and potentially judge my writing
skills (or lack of it!). James gave me a bit of a pointer and basically
told me to write about things that pissed me off, it all became easier
after that. So far I guess my lyrics have been based on social
observation, and more predominately my own personal inadequacies, as
there's so no shortage of those!

-do you feel like being part of any scene? with what kind of bands do you usually play?

I
guess you kind of have to be if you want to play regularly in London.
There are a hell of a lot of great bands around these parts so we do try
to make an effort to be involved. We also run When You Hit The Ground
Promotions (http://www.facebook.com/pages/When-You-Hit-The-Ground-Promotions)
putting on hardcore shows in London which gives us some good
opportunities to play with some great band, but we're also got to be
carful no to put ourselves on at any opportunity. We've only played one
show so far, with Piranha (excellent, check them out!) Year of the Flood
and Black Veins, but we're playing with the likes of Grappler, The Long
Haul, Full of Hell, Grieved, etc in the next few months, which is
great!

-your demo is promising, how long do we have to wait before listening to an LP?

Ha,
cheers man, it's nice to get good feedback so early on. I'd say it will
be a while before we get enough songs for a proper release, we all work
full-time and progress is steady but slow. I guess we'd probably need a
bit of external motivation to sit down and write a whole LP, as we're
all fairly 'laid back', shall we say? We recorded, mixed and mastered
the demo ourselves and we'd probably like to keep it that way :)

-you
released your demo also in order to help the band book some show, can
you tell us more about where you will play or would like to play?

Well,
it's neigh-on impossible to get decent shows without some sort of
release, and obviously putting on hardcore shows ourselves help to meet
lots of cool bands and people so we're just trying to keep it real.
People respond better and are more likely to give us a thought if we
hand them a demo in person after a little chat, so we tend to take them
round with us everywhere. We just want to play with bands that we enjoy
watching. There's a lot of great venues for heavy music in London (The
Birds Nest, The Constitution, The Black Heart, The Underworld,
Powerlunches) so we are just trying to stick to what we know and love
and avoid all of the mid-week, pay-to-play bullshit that London is
infested with at the moment.

vendredi 16 mars 2012

Brown sugar

...sings of birds and racism released in 2011 by Brown sugar is a record both good and original.

It sounds a bit like an original mix of early hardcore punk and garage/sixties rock, with some crazy saxophone parts, a bit like a collision between Minor threat and the Stooges. As you can imagine the record is really raw and full of energy, and filled with fast beats and good riffs.

it's really worth checking out. you can start with their bandcamp page (even if there only two songs from the LP), HERE.

I sent the band a few questions, so I hope that we'll soon be able to read their answers at this same place.

jeudi 15 mars 2012

Hot graves

Knights in white phosphorus released in 2011by Hot graves is a really cool Trashing blackened D-beatrecord.They invent nothing but their music is really enjoyable (and isn't the pink in the artwork marvellous? a pity that it's only for the digital ersion of the record..). Everything you like in the punk meets metal side of music is there. It's fast, agressive, raw and straight to the face, with catchy riffs, a few soli here and there, relentles d-beat, cool trash black vocals. well, good songs, that's it...